As it is the first business day of the month, the Commerce Department released its monthly construction spending report. The report is a breakdown between residential, non-residential, and public expenditures on new construction.

Construction spending dropped by a larger-than-expected percentage in July, as housing activity backpedaled to the lowest level in 7 years and nonresidential activity fell for the first time in 7 months. The department said that construction spending fell 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.084 trillion in July, doubling the estimated 0.3% decline economists were expecting. Compared to a year ago, construction spending is down 4.7%.

Also, for the 16th straight month, private home-building activity decreased. More specifically, it declined 2.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $357.8 billion. This marks the lowest level since March 2001, which, coincidentally, was the beginning of the last recession. Meanwhile, nonresidential activity receded 0.7% to an annual rate of $416.8 billion in July, the first decline since December.